Get everything you'll need to succeed in a disability claim with an insightful overview of the laws, definitions, procedures, and tactics involved in researching and proving impairments. This course will walk you through the major steps of the claim procedure and offer time-tested methods for selecting cases, presenting them with the SSA and coordinating SSDI with claimants' other sources of income. Build a solid foundation for your practice – order today!

1. Overview of the Law, Operating Terms and Procedure
2. First Steps and the Search for Claim-Supporting Evidence
3. Mental Impairment Claims
4. Effective Hearing Tactics – What Administrative Law Judges Want You to Know
5. Strategies for the Appeals Council and Federal District Court
6. Avoiding Ethical Pitfalls
7. Handling Changes in Benefits
8. Coordinating SSDI with Workers' Comp and Other Benefits and Income Sources
9. Attorneys' Fees – Sources and Methods of Recovery

Continuing Education Credits:   

* denotes specialty credits

OVERVIEW OF THE LAW, OPERATING TERMS AND PROCEDURE
8:30 - 9:15, Joseph P. Marasco and Donna M. Nesselbush

• Key Term Definitions and Abbreviations
• Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) vs. Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
• Eligibility Rules: Medical vs. Nonmedical Requirements
• How Disability is Measured – The Grids and Residual Functional Capacity
• Governing Law (POMS, HALLEX, SSRs, ARs, Case Law, CFR and SS Act)
• SSDI Claim Procedural Steps (Initial Claim, Local SSA Office Review, Determination, Reconsideration, Appeal, ODAR ALJ Hearing, Appeals Counsel, Civil Action in U.S. District Court)

FIRST STEPS AND THE SEARCH FOR CLAIM-SUPPORTING EVIDENCE
9:15 - 10:00, Joseph P. Marasco and Donna M. Nesselbush

• Client Intake and Questionnaire – Looking for Conflicting Information in the Client's File
• Claim Evaluation - Red Flags to Look out for
• The Five (or Three) Steps of the Sequential Evaluation
• Reopening a Prior Application – How Far Back Can You Go?
• SSA/ODAR Communications (Including Specific Forms to Complete and SSA Response to Case Backlog)
• Difference in Evaluating Physical vs. Mental Claims
• Obtaining Case Supporting Documentation
• Determining the Onset of Disability (Including Date Last Insured)
• Proving Pain
• Medical History and Treating Doctors' Opinions
• Employment History
• Functional Exertional and Non-Exertional Limitations
• Daily Activity Diaries
• Special Considerations in Child Disability Claims

MENTAL IMPAIRMENT CLAIMS
10:00 - 10:45, Stephen P. Maguire

• Should You Survey Listing 12.00 or Focus on One Particular Listing?
• Personality Disorders – Are They Real, How Can You Prove Your Case?
• Can Your Client Meet Listing 12.08?
• Faking or Response Distortion in Personality Assessment
• Intelligence Quotient (IQ) – Can You Prove the Client's Listing IQ?
• Social Security Listing of Impairment: 12.05
• What Limitations Does a Low IQ Cause?
• Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF)
• Changes in the Diagnostic and Statistics Manual (DSM-5)

EFFECTIVE HEARING TACTICS - WHAT ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGES WANT YOU TO KNOW
11:00 - 11:45, Stephen P. Maguire

• Preparation
• Pre-Hearing Briefs and Other Submissions
• Amended Onset Dates and Wages Recorded After Onset Date
• Effective Exhibits
• Direct Examination of the Claimant
• Cross-Examining Medical and Vocational Experts

STRATEGIES FOR THE APPEALS COUNCIL AND FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT
11:45 - 12:30, Joseph P. Marasco and Donna M. Nesselbush

• Procedure
• Effective Arguments
• Brief Writing Tactics
• Timing Considerations

AVOIDING ETHICAL PITFALLS
1:30 - 2:30, Joseph P. Marasco and Donna M. Nesselbush

• Judicial Misconduct
• Representative Misconduct
• Client Misconduct
• Guarding Confidentiality
• Addressing Negative Evidence

HANDLING CHANGES IN BENEFITS
2:30 - 3:00, Joseph P. Marasco and Donna M. Nesselbush

• Death of the Claimant During Litigation
• Representative Payees
• Benefits Modification Based on Rate of Recovery
• Return to Work Considerations

COORDINATION OF SSDI WITH WORKERS' COMP AND OTHER BENEFITS AND INCOME SOURCES
3:15 - 4:00, Joseph P. Marasco and Donna M. Nesselbush

• With Workers' Compensation
• Disability Definition in Workers' Comp vs. SSDI
• What the Offset Applied to and How Much is Calculated
• “Average Current Earnings” – Exclusions From Offset Formula
• Changes in the Amount of Workers' Compensation
• Different Impairments can Cause the Same Disability
• “Periodic” Benefits
• Overpayments of SSDIB
• Sharing of Evidence
• With a Personal Injury Settlement
• With Trust Distributions and Other Sources of Income
• The Effect of SSD/SSI Receipt on Medicaid Eligibility
• Why File for SSDI and Social Security Retirement at the Same Time
• Is the Claimant Applying for Unemployment Benefits too?
• Veteran's Service-Connected Disability, Non-Service Disability and/or SSDI and SSI

ATTORNEYS' FEES – SOURCES AND METHODS OF RECOVERY
4:00 - 4:40, Joseph P. Marasco and Donna M. Nesselbush

• From Federal Government
• From the Back Due Benefits
• Fee Petition
• Fee Agreement – When Can You Get More than the Fee Cap?
• In a Partially Favorable Ruling Case
• Pursuing Unpaid Fees
• Fees in Federal Court
• Seeking Fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA)

STEPHEN P. MAGUIRE is a sole practitioner in Cranston, Rhode Island, where his main areas of practice are Social Security, disability and Social Security claims. He also has experience in plaintiff and defense personal injury. Mr. Maguire is a member of the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives, the Rhode Island Association for Justice, the American Association of Justice and the Rhode Island Bar Association. He earned his B.A. degree from the University of Rhode Island and his J.D. degree from Roger Williams University School of Law.

JOSEPH P. MARASCO is a founding partner of Marasco & Nesselbush LLP, and a lifelong resident of Rhode Island. He has successfully litigated, arbitrated and mediated personal injury and medical negligence cases in all of Rhode Island's state and federal trial courts. Mr. Marasco is an active member of the American and Rhode Island Associations for Justice. He is a "sustaining member" of the national Organization of Social Security Claimants' representatives. Mr. Marasco is admitted to practice in Rhode Island and before the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island. He is a graduate of the University of Rhode Island, where he served with distinction as president of the Student Senate/Student Body, and a graduate of Suffolk University School of Law, where he received awards for professional ethics and trial advocacy.

DONNA M. NESSELBUSH is a founding partner of Marasco & Nesselbush LLP. She has dedicated her legal career to representing Social Security disability claimants at all levels of review. Ms. Nesselbush has litigated cases before SSA, DDS, ALJ's, the Appeals Council, the U.S. District Court, and she has won important victories in the First Circuit Court of Appeals. Together with her law partner, she is the founder and chair of the Rhode Island Bar Association's Social Security Disability Committee. Ms. Nesselbush has lectured and written extensively on the topic of Social Security disability law. She is an active member of the American and Rhode Island Associations for Justice. Ms. Nesselbush is a "sustaining member" of the National Organization of Social Security Claimants' Representatives. She is a graduate of Brown University and a cum laude graduate of Suffolk University School of Law. Ms. Nesselbush is a municipal court judge for the city of Pawtucket and a Rhode Island State Senator.

Please refer to Continuing Education Credit FAQ for general information about seeking credit for your participation in one of our continuing education programs.

Additionally, our team of credit specialists are here to answer your specific credit-related questions weekdays 7am - 5pm Central:

Phone: 866-240-1890

Email: credit@nbi-sems.com